Former Mayor Eddie A. Perez's lawyer reiterated his argument Tuesday that Perez's bribery and extortion cases should not have been combined, and that as a result the jury was unfairly prejudiced against Perez.

My attorney has been informed by the Chief State's Attorney office that they have obtained a warrant for my arrest in connection with work done by a city contractor at my home. Seventeen months ago, I revealed the facts surrounding this situation to the public and these facts appear to be the basis for action by the Chief State's Attorney tomorrow.

Minutes after the city council issued a statement Friday saying that it would "take action" if Mayor Eddie A. Perez didn't decide whether to resign, Perez told council members that he would step down from his post.

Mayor Eddie A. Perez abused his power and hurt the people of Hartford by taking a bribe in the form of free home remodeling work and trying to extort a payoff on behalf of a political ally, the prosecutor said in his final argument Wednesday in the mayor's corruption case.

The judge and the lawyers in Mayor Eddie A. Perez's corruption case discussed the delicate matter of how to instruct the jury on the charges of bribery, evidence fabrication, and attempted larceny by extortion that the mayor faces.

Mayor Eddie A. Perez walked with his wife, Maria, out of the courthouse Monday after four weeks of evidence in his bribery and larceny trial had ended, and was questioned by reporters about his decision not to take the stand and testify.

The defense today offered a reason why Mayor Eddie A. Perez may not have seen a March 5, 2007, e-mail from a developer indicating North End politician Abraham Giles was, with the mayor's knowledge, demanding $100,000 to vacate a parking lot that the developer wanted to buy.

HARTFORD -- In a secretly recorded conversation with an investigator, Mayor Eddie A. Perez denied he ever knew that political confidant Abraham Giles was demanding a $100,000 payoff to vacate a parking lot that a developer wanted to buy.

Even in the loosely regulated, intensely political business of running parking lots in the city, Abraham Giles' no-bid deals with city hall stood out, the prosecution said Friday in Mayor Eddie A. Perez's corruption trial.

Pedro Bermudez-Acevedo, a driver for Mayor Eddie A. Perez, became belligerent with police and told them to "talk to his boss" after officers informed him Wednesday that he had an invalid driver's license, according to a police report.

Abraham Giles was on his own when he told developers of property at Main and Trumbull streets that he had an agreement with the city to operate a parking lot at the site, the defense asserted today in Mayor Eddie A. Perez's corruption case.

The jury in Mayor Eddie A. Perez's corruption trial Wednesday was served with another challenge: what to make of the mayor's April 23, 2007, request for a criminal investigation of developer Joseph Citino, his proposed development deal at 1161 Main St., and an alleged payoff demand from North End politician Abraham Giles.

The prosecution in Mayor Eddie A. Perez's corruption case says the mayor wanted North End politician Abraham Giles to be paid off to vacate a parking lot that was on a sliver of land crucial to a developer's plans for a condo and shopping center.

Mayor Eddie A. Perez lied to an investigator at a tape-recorded meeting in June 2007 about when he paid for remodeling work done by a city contractor because he didn't want the city's lawyer, who was also in the room, to know what had happened.

Mayor Eddie A. Perez's lawyer said he was unknowingly tape-recorded by the lead investigator in the mayor's corruption case and made a statement on the tape that might implicate him in the evidence-fabrication charge that the mayor faces.

Contractor Carlos Costa struggled on the witness stand today to reconcile his testimony in Mayor Eddie A. Perez' bribery trial with what he told corruption investigators and a grand jury in 2007 and 2008.

City contractor Carlos Costa said in court Monday that he did free work for two city officials in addition to Mayor Eddie A. Perez because they were in a position to help him with his problems on the troubled Park Street reconstruction project.

An enraged Mayor Eddie A. Perez, according to testimony in his corruption trial Thursday, dropped an F-bomb on the public works director when he found out that officials were trying to oust contractor Carlos Costa from the troubled Park Street restoration project.

When law officers who were dogging Mayor Eddie A. Perez heard about a list of vehicles that were exempt from parking tickets in the city, they went after it, just as they went after thousands of other documents in an 18-month pursuit of corruption in the Perez administration.

With the start of Mayor Eddie A. Perez's corruption trial two weeks away, the council plans to ask an independent attorney to clarify whether the city charter adequately addresses what happens when a mayor is "absent or disabled."

Jury selection is scheduled to start this morning in Mayor Eddie A. Perez's bribery and larceny trial, and his lawyer has made it clear to everyone in the case that he will be looking hard at the racial makeup of the jury pool.

Hartford Mayor Eddie A. Perez will walk into a state police barracks this morning and surrender himself on bribery charges, a dramatic step in the corruption probe that has hung over the city and his administration for nearly two years.

Mayor Eddie A. Perez sat in his office at city hall on a late June day in 2007 and assured a pair of state criminal investigators that the rumors weren't true, that he had long ago paid in full for the $20,000 renovation at his home by city contractor Carlos Costa.

On a day that had no shortage of drama — Mayor Eddie A. Perez turning himself in to state police and holding a press conference to say he committed no crime, with bewildered citizens trying to make sense of it all — three members of the city council took advantage of the upheaval to begin an attempt to oust one of Perez's most loyal supporters from his leadership position on the council.

The breakfast meeting with Eddie Perez was about five years ago. The memory is foggy on the details. But it was at the old Hal's Diner on Main Street, and it was sometime after Perez's first election as strong mayor. He was talking about his vision for the city, and later the topic turned to the allegations against Bridgeport Mayor Joseph Ganim, who was accused of extortion, bribery and mail fraud. Perez was adamant that he would never find himself in such a fix.

Despite interest from the city's own parking authority, the administration of Mayor Eddie A. Perez recently awarded a potentially lucrative contract to manage a city-owned parking lot to a longtime political power broker in the city's North End.

A Hartford politico who last year got a no-bid contract to run a city-owned parking lot was poised to walk away with a $100,000 fee had another city-owned lot he manages been sold, according to documents on file with the city.

A developer says that he offered to pay political boss Abraham Giles $100,000 to vacate a downtown parking lot after being told by Hartford Mayor Eddie A. Perez that Giles needed to be taken care of to make a real estate deal happen.

The city paid nearly $10,000 to cart away tons of trash from the privately owned warehouse of a political power broker who has been at the center of several questionable deals involving the administration of Hartford Mayor Eddie A. Perez.

State criminal investigators probing possible political corruption at Hartford city hall have asked for payment records related to the city's $1 billion school construction program - the first evidence of a connection between the investigation and the project.

Members of the Urban League of Greater Hartford's board of directors are looking into a $15,000 consulting fee paid to the league's president by the company managing the city's massive school construction project.

The judge investigating allegations of corruption in the administration of Mayor Eddie A. Perez has found sufficient evidence that another person committed two crimes, according to a letter filed with the courts Tuesday.

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